Thank God for Book Reviewers!
Henrietta The Dragon Slayer by Beth Barany
I used to be a book reviewer, back in the early days of my writing career. In fact, the second thing I ever got published was a review of Katherine Neville’s The Eight. I still review books occasionally, and I love reading book reviews in the newspaper, magazines, and skimming Amazon’s reviews.
So I just gotta share how I feel when I received my first review last week on my first novel, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer.
It didn’t even occur to me that she might give me a bad review. I was just so curious to see what someone had about my book — someone who didn’t know me and had no stake in pleasing me. Frankly, I cried tears of joy when I read the review.
Here it is in it’s entirety:
Henrietta the dragon slayer is a charming book set in a fantasy world. Henrietta has slayed many dragons in her short life and has resigned not to take any more jobs, but when a pushy knight named Franc implores her to follow him to his lands and slay Mimoto the dragon she hesitates, until she learns her mentor, Master Chen is sick and only the Dragonitas from Mimoto can save him does she embark on her quest.
The cast of Henrietta, The dragon slayer consists of Henrietta, the firey warrior woman with a sharp tongue and stubborn attitude. The stoic and harsh knight Framc, Jaxter the jester and a witch-girl Paulette. Unlikely traveling companions, they mesh well and no personalities comflict with anothers. Each person has a distinct personality and I found myself really likeing them all.
As far as writing goes, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer is fluid, easy to read and reads well. There is no swearing and no sexual content, there is a little action but no bloodfests. Though it says ‘dragon slayer’ in the title, you wont see Henrietta fighting any, we hear of her exploits in Jaxters tales only. The world in which they reside is not explained in great detail but I did not mind this so much, Barany did not hamper the writing with telling about every single rock and tree the companions come across.
As far as young adult fantasies go, Henrietta, The Dragon Slayer is a good read that I think any age, teen to adult, would enjoy. I only hope a sequel is in the works!
Thanks Jessica! And thank you for the 5 star review. Okay, wow! Is all I got to say…
Where do you read your book reviews? Do you read them online or in print?
